Can Marketing Communication Prime You to Act ‘Green’?

Abstract

As popularity of eco-friendly products has increased over the past decade, brands utilize green advertising and position their products as green to appeal to the taste of environmentally conscious customers. Even though many customers are concerned about the state of environment, they are discouraged from purchasing eco-friendly products and engaging in other sustainable behaviors due to economic and social barriers. This research poses a question how marketing communication can capitalize on environmental concern to promote desired green behaviors by priming customers to think about their proenvironmental values and motivations to act green. To answer this question, we analyze over 1500 customer responses to marketing communications on social media. In this content analysis study we utilize logistic regression to discover which primers are the most effective at activating green behaviors. This research provides managerial implications helping marketing communicators employ effective primers that will generate desired customer behaviors.

Overcoming perceived sacrifice as a barrier to the adoption of green non‐purchase behaviours

“…However, with increasing popularity of green products, purchasing green has now become easier than ever and these barriers are slowly becoming obsolete. While previous research focused on green purchases (e.g., Chwialkowska, 2018; Dolcinar, Cvelbar, & Grun, 2019; Griskevicius et al, 2010; Lin & Chang, 2012; Stokes & Turri, 2015; White, MacDonnell, & Ellard, 2012; Wood, Robinson, & Poor, 2018; Xie & Kronrod, 2012), green non‐purchase behaviours (GNPBs) have been largely ignored (Lee, Cherrier, Roux, & Cova, 2011; Peattie & Crane, 2005). GNPBs can involve any behaviour that is beneficial to the environment but does not involve purchasing a new product.…”

“…They also investigated the role of cultural values in household conservation behaviours (e.g., Liu & Segev, 2017; Segev, 2015). However, while this research increased our understanding of the factors influencing the adoption of GNPBs, future research in this area should be further expanded in a number of ways: (1) by examining the connection between different barriers, especially perceived sacrifice and the adoption of GNPBs (Cleveland et al., 2012; Liu & Segev, 2017; Segev, 2015); (2) by identifying marketing communication strategies that can help mitigate this perceived sacrifice (Segev, 2015; Zabkar & Hosta, 2013); and (3) by focusing on strategies that can generate lasting behavioural changes (Chwialkowska, 2018; Matthes, 2019; Nguyen et al., 2016), as discussed below.…”

“…Second, the negative perception of GNPBs prompts the question if they could be effectively encouraged in an attempt to mitigate the perceived sacrifice. Promising findings in the area of green purchases show that green purchases can be enticed with various communication strategies/appeals and primes (e.g., Chwialkowska, 2018; Dolnicar et al, 2019; Griskevicius et al., 2010; Stokes and Turri, 2015; Tucker, Rifon, Lee, & Reece, 2012; Wood et al., 2018; Xie and Kronrod, 2012; Yoon, Kim, & Baek, 2016), suggesting that that green behaviours should be actively promoted (Biswas & Roy, 2015).…”

“…Third, previous studies (mainly in the area of green purchases) that examined the effectiveness of marketing communication focused on immediate responses to communication strategies (e.g., Chwialkowska, 2018; Dolcinar et al, 2019; Stokes and Turri, 2015; Tucker et al., 2012; Wood et al., 2018; Xie and Kronrod, 2012; Yoon et al., 2016). These studies focused on measuring immediate changes in green attitudes, or attitudes towards the brand or particular ad, preferences or intentions (e.g., Biswas & Roy, 2015; Pagiaslis & Krontalis, 2014; Tseng, 2016).…”

“…To date, only limited studies investigated the long‐term effects resulting in multiple calls to study lasting behavioural changes by Nguyen et al. (2016), Chwialkowska (2018) and Matthes (2019).…”